With the second term of the ninth UN Secretary-General António Guterres coming to an end on 31 December 2026, the process is underway to select and appoint his successor. As the UN General Assembly’s (UNGA) 80th session comes to an end, outgoing UNGA President Annalena Baerbock updated UN Member States on the handover of the process to her successor Khalilur Rahman.

In a letter dated 4 September 2026, Baerbock highlights the importance of ensuring transparency, accountability, and inclusivity of the process for selection and appointment of the tenth UN Secretary-General. She also underscores the need for a strong role for the UNGA as it appoints the Secretary-General upon the recommendation of the Security Council.

Baerbock’s letter provides a summary of the selection process thus far, including the issuance of the joint letter by the Presidents of the UNGA and of the Security Council on 25 November 2025, nominations of candidates by UN Member States of groups of Member States, the interactive dialogues with the nominees, a global town hall on 23 July 2026 with six candidates nominated by that date, and two straw polls of the Security Council conducted during the Assembly’s 80th session.

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Baerbock underscores the need to maintain the highest standards of professionalism, predictability, accountability, transparency, and inclusivity for the remainder of the selection and appointment process during the UNGA’s 81st session, stressing that all candidates should be heard by the UNGA prior to being considered by the Security Council in its straw poll, to ensure credibility.

Citing calls from a number of Member States for the Security Council to suggest more than one candidate for consideration by the UNGA as well as calls for another interactive dialogue with the candidate or candidates recommended by the Security Council, Baerbock encourages her successor to engage closely with Member States, including through consultations on a potential intergovernmental process on a resolution on the appointment of the next Secretary-General.

The letter puts forward recommendations on increasing the transparency and inclusivity of future selection and appointment processes in relation to:

• The timeline for the selection and appointment process and deadline for nominations;
• Improvements to the joint letter;
• Increasing transparency and accountability of candidates’ campaign activities;
• Recommendation of the Security Council of more than one candidate;
• Straw polls of the UNGA;
• The Security Council’s modalities and publication of straw poll results by the Security Council.

The tenth Secretary-General will be appointed by the UNGA, on the recommendation of the Security Council, in accordance with Article 97 of the UN Charter. Assuming the role in January 2027, the newly appointed Secretary-General will serve a term of five years, which Member States can renew for an additional five years. While technically there is no limit to the number of five-year terms a Secretary-General may serve, none has held office for more than two terms. 

There are currently eight candidates for the post – five women and three men. No woman has ever held the position of Secretary-General.

The new Secretary-General will lead the UN as Member States advance the UN80 reform initiative, undertake efforts to develop metrics that complement and go beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and launch negotiations on a post-2030 sustainable development agenda. [Selection and Appointment of the Next Secretary-General] [SDG Knowledge Hub Story on UNGA 81 President’s Priorities]